The Savannah Airport Authority recently approved a request by Tesla Motors Inc., maker of high-end electric cars, to lease six parking spaces in the economy parking deck of the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport to install and operate an electric vehicle “supercharging” station specifically for its Model S sedan.
Tesla, an American company founded in 2003 by a group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, designs, manufactures and sells luxury electric vehicles. Listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol TSLA, the company first produced the Tesla Roadster, the first fully electric sports car.
The Tesla Model S is the company’s first fully electic luxury sedan.
Tesla associate project manager Raza Uddin brought a Model S to the airport commission’s meeting last month to show it off and answer any questions about the charging station.
“The concept behind the strategically placed superchargers is to allow Model S owners to travel free between cities along major highways in North America,” Uddin said.
In a 30-minute hookup, the Superchargers provide power to go about 200 miles, he said.
Tesla has concentrated first on the West and East coasts, locating free supercharging stations that allow owners to drive from one to the next with minimal stops.
Tesla owners can now travel from Vancouver, British Columbia, to San Diego using only Tesla’s supercharger stations, he said. The company is doing the same on the East Coast, working its way down to south Florida.
The goal, Uddin said, is to have 98 percent of the U.S. population — and parts of Canada — covered by the end of 2015.
In Savannah, Tesla will have a five-year lease followed by a five-year renewal option. The company will pay the airport $600 a month and will be responsible for its own utility expenses.
Tesla, which has been well received by auto enthusiasts, hit a bump in the road earlier this month when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation after two Model S vehicles caught fire when they drove over and hit metal objects in the road.
NHTSA is looking into whether a design flaw in the electric car contributed to the battery fires. There were no injuries in either incident and Tesla CEO Elon Musk told the Associated Press he was confident the investigation would exonerate the Model S.
Meanwhile, Model S owners gave the electric car a rating of 99 out of 100 in Consumer Reports’ annual survey of new car buyers. The near-perfect score is the highest a vehicle has received in several years, the magazine reported.
The Model S finished ahead of runner-up Porsche Boxster and the Chevy Volt, which finished third with a rating of 91. The Volt topped the magazine’s owner satisfaction survey in 2011 and 2012.
The Tesla Model S starts at around $70,000.
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For more information on the Tesla Model S or a preview of the Model X, go to www.teslamotors.com